Aren't You All Dead Yet?
by Withoutatracelover996
Summary: ON HIATUS. A school shooter massacres a group of high school students, only to move on to the next school. And the next... and the next... As the team gets closer to the UNSUB, they approach a danger like no other. When the UNSUB lashes out at the team, who will stand? ON HIATUS.
1. Hail of Bullets

**Hi everyone, so I'm attempting a new story. Please let me know what you think! Set in season 7.**

Jamie slid the bar on her iPod open, effectively silencing her musical alarm. Falling back into bed dramatically, she rubbed her eyes and groaned. "Nine more days, you can do this."

Rolling out of bed, Jamie stumbled over to her calendar and crossed out another day in June. In just nine short days, she would be graduating high school and heading off to the University of North Carolina.

After forty minutes of beautification, Jamie rushed down the stairs and out the front door to her boyfriend's waiting piece-of-junk Mustang.

"Hey, babe," Riley greeted her with a sloppy kiss.

"Get off of me, it's eight in the morning," Jamie said, playfully shoving him off of her.

"But you know how much I love that perfume on you," Riley flashed her a smile.

"It's hand cream," Jamie frowned.

"Whatever," Riley said, apparently losing interest in the conversation. "Want to skip second period and go to the backlot?"

Jamie hesitated. The backlot was where all of the seniors went to smoke pot. "Look, Riley, you know I don't like the backlot."

"You know what, whatever. You never want to do anything but study anyways," Riley scoffed, focusing his eyes on the road in front of him.

"Can I make it up to you later?" Jamie asked, doing her best to be flirtatious.

Riley couldn't help but smile at the unspoken promise, "You know I can't stay mad at you."

The school made it's way into view, and Jamie grinned. "I know. But listen, I have to study for my Bio final so you're going to have to wait until later tonight. Ok?"

"Yeah, whatever. Meet me at my place at 7," Riley said, pulling into the school's parking lot.

"'Kay, love you," Jamie planted a kiss on Riley's lips. As she pulled away, he pulled her closer and they kissed again, tongues sliding past their lips as they romant -

A loud tapping thundered into the car's interior.

As the teenagers broke away, a teacher glared into the car disapprovingly. "First block starts in two minutes, get going."

Jamie turned to smile at Riley one last time before climbing out of the car. "See you later," she winked.

Riley revved the car's engine twice, before hurtling out of the parking lot.

Jamie shook her head as she smiled to herself. She entered the school's front doors and screamed as she came face-to-face with the barrel of a gun. A shot was fired, and everything went black.

* * *

Prentiss awoke with a start after a heavy pile of papers slammed onto her desk.

"Sleeping on the job again? Remember, last night, I asked you if you wanted a ride home and you said - and I quote - 'I just have a quick report to finish, and then I'm out of here'?" Morgan said disapprovingly.

"Whatever. Remember when I caught you talking in your sleep about that time you were fifteen and your mom told your little girlfriend about your - "

"What did you not understand about, 'never to be spoken of again'?" Morgan interrupted.

"I'm sorry. Well, not really." Prentiss laughed as Morgan swatted her with a file he held in his hand.

"Oh my goodness, I have news," Garcia rushed into the bullpen; high-heels clacking on the linoleum floor.

"What is it?" Prentiss asked.

"There is going to be an FBI talent show at the end of the month," Garcia started.

"Oh no," Morgan closed his eyes and shook his head, a grin plastered on his face.

"Oh, yes, sweetness," Garcia smirked. "I was thinking, Emily you could like, impress everyone with that wonderful linguistic thing you do? You know the, 'I can say hello in a hundred different languages thing'?

"Garcia, I don't think that's a talent," Prentiss protested.

"Yes, my dear. It is. And Derek, I was thinking that you could demonstrate your wonderful tackling skills. Or, if you're not up for that, you could always just stand there and look pretty while I talk about your stunning good looks."

"Woah, woah, slow down, baby girl," Derek laughed.

Garcia whipped her head around towards the doors to the BAU, where Reid was entering. "Reid! Do you still do magic? Because I was thinking..." Penelope's voice faded.

"That girl has gone completely insane," Morgan remarked as he watched Garcia chattering away to the unsuspecting Doctor Reid.

"Can everyone meet in the conference room please?" Hotch announced. "We have a case."

**Ok, ok, a talent show might be cheesy but I like a little fun in my stories. Who knows, you might just appreciate the lightheartedness here, as there's a whole lot of darkness to come. ****So that was just a little taste of things to come. I hope you liked it, and I'd love to hear what you thought. Thanks guys!**


	2. Bloodbath

**Thanks for your reviews! In case anyone was wondering, the title of the story is a quote from Tim Kretschmer who was the school shooter at Winnenden High School in Germany. **

"There were six victims in a school shooting at the Maple Bridge High School this morning. No one survived the attack, the UNSUB shot to kill," Hotch briefed.

"School shootings aren't our jurisdiction, are they?" Prentiss asked.

"Not normally, but this UNSUB hasn't been caught. He's on the run, and he's showing signs of a psychotic break. There's an extremely high chance that he will kill again. Today," Hotch said grimly.

"Could anyone identify the UNSUB?" Reid asked.

"The police haven't obtained that information yet. Since the shooter killed everyone he came into contact with, we're relying on the school's surveillance footage which is still being gathered," Hotch said.

"Normally school shooters are boys that are or have been bullied severely by their classmates. It's abnormal that he wasn't caught, and that he didn't finish what he went in there to do," Rossi frowned. "He only killed forty-eight students out of over one-thousand. Why didn't he continue shooting? What scared him off?"

"Maybe he momentarily snapped out of it and realized what he was doing?" JJ suggested.

"That's highly unlikely," Reid said. "Historically, school shooters are fully aware of what they're doing. Their goal is to kill whoever it is they're targeting. It's possible that he shot everyone he was targeting. We should look at the victims and ask the other students who they might have had a connection with."

"Are the police going over attendance records? Whoever shot up the place wasn't there when class started this morning," Morgan pointed out.

"The shootings started just before classes started, so most attendance wouldn't have been completed yet. But, we have some sheets and anything is better than nothing," Hotch said.

Hotch's phone began to vibrate noisily in his pocket. "Excuse me," he said.

The team watched as Hotch's expression turned grave.

Hotch hung up the phone, "There's been a shooting at a second school about twenty minutes from Maple Bridge. It was an elementary school."

"Oh no," Garcia said, her hand covering her mouth.

"Wheels up in ten," Hotch said tightly, dismissing the team.

* * *

Screaming fills the air. I smile, because I know the appropriate amount of blood has been spilled. Breathing in the fresh summer air, I laugh out loud. I turn and look at the school behind me, with children and teachers still inside, tending to the little ones. They won't be alive. I made sure of that.

* * *

"I don't know what happened, I was eating in the cafeteria and all of a sudden I heard, like, ten loud bangs. I freaked out, and crouched down under the table. Everyone started screaming and running around. I just curled up in a ball and closed my eyes. Whoever was shooting just walked down the hallway, shooting..." the young girl burst into tears, "Shooting people in the head."

JJ muted the television as the news anchor announced a commercial break.

"Obviously he was calm, you can't shoot someone in the head if your hand is shaking," Morgan said.

"He's not a normal school shooter. Clearly, he's on some kind of mission. We need to figure out what that mission is," Rossi spoke.

"Is it possible that he planned this massacre? What schools he would go to, who he would shoot, when he would do it?" Prentiss suggested.

"That would be an extreme amount of planning. It would also mean that he had a target list, implying that he either previously knew the victims or stalked them," Reid said.

"If that's the case, what was so special about today?" Rossi asked.

"It's almost summer for these kids. Maybe he'd been planning it for a long time, and he realized that he was running out of time," Morgan suggested.

"Oh, JJ. The news is back on," Reid said.

"We're here at Tiny Top Elementary, where we have at least nine young children confirmed dead. The shooting happened this morning at around nine-fifteen," the news anchor's expression was somber as the camera turned to school in the background. Ambulances and police cars surrounded the small school. The paintings of happy children seemed cruel, their smiling faces ignorant of the tragedy surrounding them.

"Morgan and Prentiss, you go to Tiny Top and talk to the parents that lost children. Have them describe their kids to you, pay attention to potential bullies and victims. The UNSUB could be projecting his situation onto these children," Hotch ordered. "JJ and Reid, go to Maple Bridge and complete the same interviews with the victims' parents. Take notes. Rossi, you come with me and we'll head down to the police station."

Prentiss looked over at Morgan, "This is going to be tough."

"We'll get through it," Morgan said, looking ahead. "We always do."

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'd love to hear from you if you liked it (or didn't!). I'll update again shortly. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Nuts n' Bolts

**Mmk, gotta say I was disappointed to get 0 reviews on that last chapter (which I worked very hard  
****on :-( by the way). Anyhow, I took a few days to brood but I've decided I've forgiven you; so hugs and kisses to all, here is chapter 3. Please enjoy!**

The bawling woman sat in front of Prentiss, her eyes bloodshot and her lip trembling. "My daughter was six. Six!" Mrs. Cassius sobbed. "She's just going in to Grade One, and now... I'll never... see her again," the woman completely broke down.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Mrs. Cassius," Prentiss said, reaching over to rub the woman's back consolingly. "I know this is going to be extremely difficult, but try to get through it. For your daughter."

"Erika. Her name, is Erika," Mrs. Cassius said through choked gasps.

"Alright. For Erika, then. Can you tell me, Mrs. Cassius, if you ever saw anyone suspicious hanging around the school during lunch hour? The Principal informed me that you volunteer here as a lunch monitor, is that right?" Prentiss asked gently.

"Erika was nervous about Kindergarten, so I signed up for the first week of school to be a lunch monitor. I don't work, and when I saw how happy it made Erika I decided to stay on for the rest of the year. But no, this is a safe town. Never have I seen anyone remotely intimidating near this school," Mrs. Cassius said adamantly.

Prentiss frowned ever so slightly at Mrs. Cassius' answer. "Thank you Mrs. Cassius, we'll contact you if we need anything else."

The broken woman nodded silently, blowing her nose into a tissue after wiping away the tears wetting her face.

Prentiss turned back to her once more, "We will find the person who did this. For Erika."

Mrs. Cassius looked up, a tiny smile on her face, "Thank you."

* * *

"Alright, thanks," Morgan finished an interview.

"This is just awful," Prentiss commented as she approached.

"I don't know what this son of a bitch is trying to prove," Morgan said, anger burning the edges of his words.

"You know what I find odd?" Prentiss asked rhetorically. "I've talked to both of the lunch monitors and the Principal, and no one has seen or even heard of someone hanging around the school. The UNSUB must have targeted these schools, so he had to have been watching them. Why didn't anyone notice him?"

"Maybe he was staking them out from a car?" Morgan suggested.

"No, look at this street. It's virtually empty all of the time. Narrow enough that cars can only park on one side, someone would have seen a strange car parked here day after day," Prentiss said.

"Unless his car wasn't suspicious. What if he worked here?" Morgan hypothesized.

"He couldn't have worked here as a teacher, someone would have recognized him," Prentiss said.

"No, as a handyman. Think about it, how often do things break down in a school? The air conditioning, the computers in the computer lab, the fridge in the cafeteria and the list goes on. Someone had to be in here doing odd jobs," Morgan said.

"And if he worked at this school, he worked at Maple Bridge as well," Prentiss realized. "If Garcia can get us the names of workers who were employed at both Maple Bridge and Tiny Top, it's possible that there'll be a match. Then we can check at what other schools in the area he may have worked at and narrow down a list of potential targets."

"It's a long shot," Morgan said, already dialling Garcia.

* * *

"Dungeon of Dreams, Penelope speaking," Garcia answered.

She listened to Morgan speak for a moment, then turned to her computer screens.

"A list you want, a list you shall get, my dear," Her fingers clicked on the keyboard in front of her. "Ok, ding ding ding we have a winner. Mr. Kale Tucker worked at Maple Bridge earlier this February, and Tiny Top just three weeks ago. He is a general repairman who works for Nuts n' Bolts repair shop in Redville County just ten minutes from where you are."

Garcia grinned as Morgan thanked her, "You, my chocolate God, are welcome."

**More action and adventure to come! Gotta build up the story first right? Although I wish I could start every story with the team going in, guns blazing, I cannot. We're getting there folks :)**

**Please drop me a line, I'd love to hear what you think of the story so far. **

**Thanks!**


	4. Bullied

**A/N: Ok I'm just going to respond to a couple of reviews, skip over if you're not interested ;) **

**Lolyncut: I understand where you're coming from (I, too, am a non-weekly reviewer). I feel this way about it - I write because I love it, but I post my stories on FF because I want to improve. This site should be a give and take, and it's hard for a writer when I put out material, and don't receive any input back. So that comment was more directed at readers who aren't reviewing at all. I know most people don't review, but I have hopes and dreams that they will one day, haha. But, as I said, I get where you're coming from and I very much appreciate your support. Thanks :) **

**yes-I-am-a-genius: Thank you! I didn't notice that. Hey, look at that. You are a genius ;)**

**Ok, back to the story. Thanks to all for reading and special thanks to those who take the time to review. I always love hearing what you have to say! **

**_Warning: Offensive language_  
**

"Yeah, thanks JJ," Hotch said before flipping his cell phone shut. "JJ and Reid said that no one recognized the shooter."

"That's odd. School shootings are almost always students and are certainly from the area. Even if our shooter didn't go to Maple Bridge, someone should have been able to recognize him from other peer groups," Rossi remarked.

"Yes, but you said he would be a social reject. He couldn't have had that many friends," Detective Dawson, the lead agent on the shooting case, commented.

"That's true, but we're looking at a town of six, maybe seven thousand people. There are only two high schools in the area and Maple Bridge was the biggest. The other school, Crimson Heights only has about four hundred students. It's well known that the schools are close, and Crimson Heights students often tag along with the Maple Bridge students on field trips and other big events. These kids were interconnected, someone must have recognized the UNSUB," Rossi responded.

"Dave, I just got a text from Morgan. They think the shooter is an adult," Hotch said sternly.

"That doesn't fit the profile," Rossi frowned.

Hotch looked at Rossi grimly, "I think I know the kind of UNSUB we're dealing with."

* * *

Morgan and Prentiss entered the Nuts n' Bolts hardware store, their presence causing the customers and employees inside to become wary.

"Can I help you?" A man approached the front counter, wiping his hands on a dirty rag.

Prentiss flipped her badge open, "We're from the FBI and we're looking for an employee here named Kale Tucker?"

The man looked into the warehouse-like storage room behind him, "Hey, Kale! These folks are from the FBI?"

A short, greasy man looked up. At the mention of the FBI, he turned and bolted towards the back exit.

"Stop!" Morgan shouted, instantly running after him.

Tucker shoved the emergency exit door open, and took off down the alley. Morgan burst through the door right behind Kale, and was quickly gaining on him.

Rounding the corner towards the main street, Tucker ran right into Prentiss, who spun him around and pushed him to the ground.

Breathing heavily, Morgan approached Tucker with a pair of handcuffs. "Kale Tucker, you are under arrest."

* * *

"It's hard to believe that someone can kill a child. Let alone fourteen of them," JJ said, glancing at the chaotic scene behind her.

Reid nodded, seemingly lost in thought.

"Spence, you ok?" JJ asked.

"When I was eleven, I heard about a school shooting on the news. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't help but wish that the shooter had come to our school instead. Before I started coaching basketball, I was the punching bag for the entire school. One kid, Travis Goodwin, shoved my head into a toilet and held it there until I could feel myself passing out. He finally let me go, and when I lifted my head out of the water he took a Sharpie and wrote a bunch of words on my forehead. I had to walk around the rest of the week with 'loser', 'shit face' and 'bastard' stained on my face. I scrubbed at those words for hours every day when I got home," Reid said, his expression haunted.

"Spence, I had no idea. I'm sorry," JJ said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"It's ok. I know now that he was just being a jerk," Reid paused, "The point is, I understand how it feels to want to get rid of your classmates. You say you can't imagine killing a child, but when you're being bullied, it doesn't matter how old the kid is. All you know is you'd do anything to make it stop."

"Listen, Reid, If this is too much for you, I can talk to Hotch - " JJ offered.

Reid shook his head, "No. It's fine. I know how the UNSUB thinks, and I think I can get him to talk to us."

"How are you going to do that?" JJ asked, but Reid was already walking away.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	5. The Profile

**A/N: ****Thank you for your reviews! Thank you also to BlueSunflower for your advice, I couldn't remember the specifics and couldn't find them on Google which is why I just went off of what I could remember - hence the inaccuracies. I've fixed them up, and adjusted the amount of murders (this actually fit better into where I'm planning on taking the story). So a big thanks to you, and also the Guest who pointed out a few other things.**

_Note: If you didn't read the above paragraph, I've significantly adjusted the amount of murders committed as the previous number wasn't working for a few reasons. The body count is now 14 children. Thanks for reading everyone, I hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

Morgan and Prentiss hurried into the police room where their team was stationed.

"What's the big rush?" Prentiss asked, as she took a seat.

"We need to deliver the profile, and we have to do it now. The UNSUB will strike again soon and we need to catch him before another child dies," Hotch said sternly.

"We just took Kale Tucker into custody, we haven't even gotten a chance to speak with him yet," Morgan said.

"It's likely that the UNSUB will strike again before the school day is through. It's already 2 o'clock, which means we have an hour and a half at the most before he kills again," Hotch said. "We don't have time to run an interview. We have to send a profile out to the media and the police right away."

Hotch's phone suddenly began violently vibrating on the wooden table. He checked the caller ID before answering, "Garcia, I'm going to put you on speaker."

"Oh. Hi everyone. Ok, I have something big here. I looked into the victims, and each one of them had a note in their school files for having some kind of incident where they acted as a bully. A couple of kids were fighting physically, others were spreading rumours - you name it, one of the victims did it," Garcia reported.

"Thanks Garcia," Hotch said.

"No problem, sir. I'm still looking into other connections between the victims; I'll call you when I find something. Penelope Garcia, over and out," Garcia adieu'd before hanging up.

Hotch hung up his cell phone and redirected his attention to the team, "Alright, let's continue. The UNSUB we're looking for was bullied as a child, most likely because of some kind of physical or mental disorder. The UNSUB has now grown into an adult - probably in his early to mid twenties. As a result of his childhood and teenaged victimization, our UNSUB became heavily reliant on drugs; as many children who have been bullied do. As he grew into an adult, his life broke apart further until his entire existence was a culmination of failures. This UNSUB will have a low-end job, no post-secondary education, and no close family members or romantic relationships. Because of the devolution of his life, our UNSUB has increased his drug use to dangerous levels. Reid, do you know the narcotic the UNSUB might have abused? The drug would have to allow the UNSUB to remain calm and focused, but it's eventual abuse causing his psychosis," Hotch described.

"There's a drug called Desoxypipradrol that's often prescribed to children with ADHD. Kids with ADHD are ten times more likely to be bullied than the average child, and the Desoxypipradrol would be helpful to reign in the erratic behaviours that a child with ADHD would display. It's extremely likely that if our UNSUB had ADHD, he would have begun to abuse the drug because he felt that it made him feel 'normal' like the other kids, and the Desoxypipradrol was supposedly reducing the bullying directed at him. However, as the drug began to rule his life, he once again would become the outcast. I would highly suspect that our UNSUB suffered from ADHD, leading to his failure in school both academically and socially, as well as his drug abuse, lack of a good job and current criminal activity and psychosis," Reid relayed.

"This UNSUB has been murdering children who were acting as bullies. He would have watched them for several days - even weeks, to pick out his targets. Killing them meant both saving the bullies victims from a fate like his own, and avenging his own failures in life," Hotch said. "Does anyone have anything to add?"

"Should we encourage parents to take their kids out of school?" Morgan asked.

"No. If the UNSUB sees that the children are being taken out of the schools, his psychosis will significantly worsen, and he may begin a shooting spree. We can't take that risk," Hotch said.

"I have something to add," Reid spoke up.

The team turned to him as he began to speak.

"We need to have a press conference where we defame the UNSUB. We need to tell him that what he's doing is wrong, and that childhood bullying is harmless. We should say things like, "kids will be kids" and "everyone's been bullied before, it's innocuous". If we run the tip-line phone number on the screen, he should reach out to us. He'll be angry, but he should stay on the phone long enough for us to trace him," Reid said assuredly.

"JJ, do you think you can do that?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, if you're ok with it," JJ said hesitantly, looking to Hotch for approval.

"Reid, you're sure about this?" Hotch asked.

"Yes," Reid confirmed confidently.

"Ok, JJ. Set it up."

**Things are about to get dicey...**

**Love it? Hate it? Want some more? Let me know! Also if you're interested in helping me out with some cool character names, I'd love to hear them. Usually I just make them up, but other people usually have some unique names I can use for victims or other characters in the story. Thanks!**


	6. Bang

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! I'm actually off to Europe on Sunday, so I've been really busy packing etc. I won't be able to post on vacation since I'm not bringing my laptop so unfortunately, this will be the last update for about 3 weeks. Hopefully it'll tide you over! Thanks for your reviews, and for those who asked, Reid mentioned coaching basketball in Season 7, Episode 4. **

_WARNING: Coarse Language_

Cameras lined the front steps of the police station, lights on and tape rolling as they waited for Special Agent Jennifer Jareau to begin speaking.

"Thank you for coming this afternoon. The FBI would like to make a statement regarding the recent shootings occurring at Maple Bridge and Tiny Top schools. We would like to make it clear that the shooter is urged to cease his immature, foolish actions," JJ started. Her demeanor changed, her tone now sympathetic. "To the shooter: kids will be kids. As unfortunate as it is, bullying is a fact of life and your actions do nothing but encourage it. How do you expect to set an example for these children by fighting violence with violence? Everyone's been bullied, but those who are don't begin shooting children. In fact, most are completely unaffected. Please, turn yourself in. Thank you."

* * *

He balled his fists in anger, smashing them into the radio. When it didn't break, he cursed loudly, but stopped when the radio announcer relayed a tip line phone number to call if anyone had information related to the crime.

Picking us his cell phone, he punched the the numbers furiously. Waiting until he heard a voice on the other end, he spoke. "I want to speak with that Jareau bitch."

He heard the operator speak with someone in a hushed voice.

"Please wait one moment, sir."

The man gritted his teeth, his small cellphone slowly being crushed in his giant fists.

"This is Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. Who am I speaking with?"

"You bitch!" he shouted. "How dare you get up on a pedestal and announce to the world that being bullied doesn't affect a person. I spent every day since I was 6 years old being a target. Do you know what it feels like to have your face shoved into a used toilet? To come home and have to explain where you got that bloody lip from? You'd better not let mommy know another boy did it. How about being spit on, like you were garbage? Growing up with nicknames that would make your grandmother roll over in her grave? You don't fucking know!" he finished with a roar.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Mr...?"

"You can call me asswipe, just like all of those bastard kids called me in school," the man spat.

"Sir, please turn yourself in. You don't have to hurt anyone else."

"Oh yes, I do. Just watch me." He violently hung up the phone and stared at the playground in front of him. He reached for his gun, and headed for the front doors.

* * *

"Did we trace it?" JJ asked, running her fingers through her hair.

"569 Gortall Avenue, it's a middle school - Limestone Middle," Garcia relayed.

"Let's go," Hotch said.

The team rushed out of the door, but Morgan put a hand on JJ's shoulder, stopping her before she could leave. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, Morgan, I'm fine. Look, we don't have time for this and I'll be damned if I let that son of a bitch kill another child," JJ said, a fire in her eyes unlike any Morgan had seen before.

He let her go, "I'm here, if you need to talk, ok?"

JJ nodded, lingering a moment before turning to catch up with the rest of the team.

Morgan sighed, then followed JJ out of the police station.

* * *

The chaos had already begun by the time the team had arrived. Teachers and children were scattered in all directions; the adults trying to regain order. The UNSUB had attacked during a late recess, preventing a lockdown to occur.

Reid jumped out of the SUV he had ridden in. Looking around, he desperately searched for the UNSUB amidst the turmoil surrounding him.

Locking his eyes on a hooded figure fleeing the scene with a backpack slung across his shoulder, Reid raised the alarm, "UNSUB fleeing the south entrance!"

Reid took off after the UNSUB without waiting for his team's confirmation.

"FBI, stop!"

The man continued running, disappearing into a nearby alley.

Reid rounded the corner and halted immediately when he saw the UNSUB pointing a gun at him. His was still holstered, having forgotten to pull it out in the chase.

Reid put his hands up, "You don't have to do this."

The UNSUB's hand was shaking, his eyes darting from Reid to the space behind him.

Reid locked eyes with the UNSUB, and saw a younger version of himself. A scared, injured person with the whole world against him, and nothing to lose.

"Look, I understand," Reid started, taking a step forward.

That step caused the UNSUB to panic.

A gunshot sounded.

Spencer Reid hit the cement.

**A/N: Sorry, that was mean.**

**I'm not happy with some parts of this chapter, but I'm on a time crunch and I wanted to give you guys an update before going away. Hope you enjoyed it anyway and I'll see you all in 3 weeks!**


	7. Aftermath

**A/N: And the wait is over! I wrote this chapter in Venice, Italy on a small island called Lido (just in case you were wondering =P). Thanks for your patience, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. **

**P.S. I'm not familiar with the medical info, so please just bear with me.**

* * *

Morgan sprinted around the corner, his gun raised and the hair on his neck standing up as a result of the gunshot that had just sounded.

Morgan stopped dead at the sight of Reid laying on the ground, blood pumping from a wound in his shoulder.

Quickly clearing the alley, Morgan rushed over to check on Reid. He was still conscious, but was rapidly paling from blood loss.

"Reid, what happened, are you alright?" Morgan asked, pressing his hands on Reid's shoulder while looking around for his teammates who had been following him.

"The UNSUB, he panicked..." Reid said. "He didn't want to shoot me... His, his hands were shaking."

"Ok, that's good. Which way did he go?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know... I'm sorry," Reid breathed.

The rest of the team suddenly rushed around the bend, coming to a halt at the scene in front of them.

"The UNSUB got away, Reid took one to the shoulder. Call an ambulance," Morgan called out instructions.

The team exploded into action; Prentiss on the phone with a 911 operator, Hotch and Rossi rushing down the alley in hopes of catching sight of the UNSUB, and JJ kneeling down beside Morgan.

"Spence, how are you doing?" JJ asked.

"I'm ok, don't think I'll be doing much writing for a few months," he joked half-heartedly.

"What, you're not ambidextrous?" JJ teased back.

"Actually... Only 0.2 percent... of the... population..." Reid started, his eyes beginning to flicker close.

"No, Reid stay with me," Morgan said urgently.

"Come on, Spence, just stay awake for a little while longer," JJ pleaded.

"Bus is 2 minutes out," Prentiss said.

Reid groaned in pain, but refused to open his eyes.

"Reid, you've got to stay conscious, ok? What's the percentage of people that live versus those who die if they don't pass out before the ambulance gets here?" Morgan tried, desperately grasping at straws.

"76 percent..." Reid said faintly.

"There you go. Be one of those 76 percent," Morgan said.

The sirens were arriving, and Reid was struggling to stay conscious. Blood was now soaking Morgan's sleeves and pooling on the street below him.

The paramedics rushed in a moment later, pushing Morgan out of the way. "GSW to the shoulder, based on amount of blood loss, it's safe to say the bullet punctured the Basilic vein. We need oxygen and the gurney, now," the older, male paramedic instructed his young partner.

As the paramedics worked, Hotch and Rossi returned.

"No sign of him," Hotch reported.

Morgan cursed under his breath, "How many dead at the school?"

"Three," Prentiss reported.

"And... Up on three. One, two, three!" the senior paramedic said, lifting the gurney up into the ambulance.

"I'll ride with him," JJ offered.

Morgan wiped his bloody hands on his jeans, and watched as his friend was carted into the ambulance, the doors shutting behind him.

"You ok?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah. I'm good," Morgan said, a firm resolve set in his eyes.

"Did Reid give you a description of the UNSUB?" Rossi asked.

"No, he was fading in and out, I didn't get any information from him other than the fact that the UNSUB didn't want to shoot him and that his hands were shaking," Morgan commented.

"His hands were shaking? That's highly inconsistent with the previous killings," Hotch noted.

"So's the shot to the shoulder. He's never injured before, just killed," Prentiss said.

"Do you think it's our guy?" Morgan asked.

Hotch frowned in concentration, "The phone call was consistent with our profile, and he gave us this address. There are too many coincidences for it not to be our UNSUB."

"The fact that Reid is an adult and - as far as the UNSUB knows - isn't a bully, probably threw him off; causing his hands to shake and miss his target," Rossi hypothesized.

"Hey guys?" Prentiss called from a few feet away.

The team looked over to where she had wandered.

Prentiss held up a small item in her gloved hand, "A shell casing."

Rossi rushed over, "We need to get this over to CSU, there could be a fingerprint on it."

"The school day's over. He shouldn't kill again today, so we have approximately 16 hours before he starts up again," Morgan calculated.

"Unless he targets kids at their homes. He's experiencing a psychotic break so he could strike at any time," Hotch said.

"Do you think he'll contact us again?" Prentiss asked.

"Probably," Hotch said grimly, "If to do nothing else but gloat."

* * *

"No, no, no, NO," the furious man shouted, smashing his hands into his skull.

He had frozen. He should have shot that idiot right between the eyes, not flaked out at the last second.

Inserting the needle into his arms, he relaxed and let a smile enter his face as the drugs infiltrated his system.

The surge of aggression that always accompanied the drugs he so frequently put in his system took hold of him. Pulling out a pad of paper, the troubled young man etched out: 'Finish the job'.

He would kill that agent, and anyone that stood in his way. He was unstoppable, but these damn FBI agents insisted that he was wrong - that the evil human beings the world called children were innocent.

They weren't innocent. And ever since the FBI began investigating, neither were they.

The man stroked his favorite gun, feeling the cool metal under his palm.

Enough was enough.

* * *

Reid's eyes blinked open, then closed. His mind felt foggy, and his body was surrounded by a soft haze.

"Spence?" a voice echoed.

Although the voice sounded warm and enticing, the world he found himself in was a beautiful space between consciousness and oblivion. No pain, no thoughts, just feelings.

Suddenly his world came crashing down, memories of gunshots and hooded figures infiltrating the peace in his mind. Snippets of the case, facts and pieces of data filled his subconscious, along with long forgotten memories of cruel, childish laughter. The sounds around him started to roar in his ears, causing his heart to start racing in fear. A loud, startling beeping erupted next to his ear, and he heard frantic shouting next to him.

Reid shot his eyes open, his body drenched in a cool sweat. JJ hung over him, desperately trying to calm him down. His chest heaved, trying to bring air into his panicked lungs.

"It's ok, Spence," JJ comforted, "It's ok, just breathe. It's ok."

Slowly, his heart rate returned to normal and the machine next to him stopped its piercing chirps.

An immense pain became apparent in his left shoulder, and Reid clenched his teeth, willing it to go away.

"Nurse?" JJ called.

A woman in white rushed in and inserted a substance into Reid's IV line, the warmth spreading through him, instantly stopping the excruciating pain.

"Hey," JJ said softly as Reid's eyes focused on hers. "There you go. Are you alright?"

"Been better," Reid said, his mind still reeling from the moments before.

"Can I get you anything?" JJ asked.

"Water?" Reid responded.

"Sorry, you're stuck with ice chips," JJ said, talking the white styrofoam cup from beside his bed and bringing the icy pellets up to his lips.

Spencer drank thirstily, and finished with a thick swallow. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem." JJ said.

The two sat in silence for a moment.

"So, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but the team's going to be here in about 20 minutes, and I was supposed to ask you if you could give a description of the UNSUB if you woke up," JJ said.

Reid closed his eyes, his head still spinning. "Maybe we could do it in a little while?" he asked.

"Of course," JJ said, "Take all the time you need, ok? Just focus on getting better."

"Did I have surgery?" Reid asked, opening his eyes and straining to see his wrapped up shoulder.

"No, it was a through-and-through. They stitched you up and wrapped it with gauze but you were lucky. Didn't even need a blood transfusion," JJ said.

"That's good," Reid said absently.

"You ok?" JJ asked.

"Just tired," Reid said.

"Ok, well let me go out into the hall, and you can get some rest," JJ said.

"Could you actually stay here?" Reid asked sheepishly, "I'd rather not be alone."

JJ smiled, "Sure. I can stay."

JJ watched as Reid fell back asleep, and wondered how many more hits her team could take before they began to fall apart.

* * *

**A/N: This isn't a JJ/Reid pairing story, it's more of a team-fic so JJ's acting more as a friend/mother to Reid than a girlfriend - if you catch my drift. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I certainly hope it was worth the wait! Clearly, our team hasn't seen the last of this UNSUB...**

**Stay tuned ;)**


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